NPD Analyst: 75% of gamers prefer a boxed product

[QUOTE="lolfaqs"]That may be, but PC gamers are still a tiny percentage of today's game market, which now includes casuals.Vandalvideo

This coming from the source that doesn't care to track non-retail sales. Talk about weighted.

After starting to use Steam I've preferred digital copies. Not only can I make an infinite amount of legal physical backups (and thus, if I want a pretty box with box art with a disc on a shelf, I can make it myself) but I can download all my games to any computer that has internet access. I wish games were all available, new and old, through DD.

And to those who complain about not having enough HDD space? What happens when you run out of shelf-space for your physical games? You buy a bigger shelf... so buy a bigger HDD. 1TB external drives are like $150 now.foxhound_fox

Implemented Valve's way, though Steam, puts a lot of power in the user's hands, allowing the user to safeguard his/her purchase through backups as needed and making the authentication process as convenient as possible. That said, secondhand sales, although still possible, are a pain, especially since Valve charges for resale (I wonder if one could take Valve to court over that on the ground that they're infringing on First Sale doctrine). If consoles allowed for downloading and playing of downloaded games from any external medium that could hold it, allowed for redownloads as needed, and allowed backup copies to be made, then they could put themselves in a position where DD can become more desirable than the physical copy (especially the backup angle--technically console backups are illegal under the DMCA as of now since the only way to make disc backups is to bypass protection (it's Fair Use vs. the DMCA, and the two are still slugging it out).

If they handled DRM properly instead of making it so goddamn anti-consumer, more people would probably use it. People are paranoid enough as it is about computers. Bonehead DRM schemes aren't helping.heretrix

I'm old school, i will always prefer retail (box + game + manual), even with digital distribution being considerably less priced.DanBal76

[QUOTE="Vandalvideo"][QUOTE="lolfaqs"]That may be, but PC gamers are still a tiny percentage of today's game market, which now includes casuals.grimhope

The problem with this data is that they include people like my 70 year old mom as a "PC gamer" because she plays solitare and minesweep on her computer.

Of course there is going to be more pc gamers if they include crap like that.

I have ambivalent views on this issue on one hand i like DLC because i don't run with the problem of getting my games scratched, dirtied (my nephews get a hold of my games when visiting) or even stolen and sometimes you can re-download for free if your system get all messed up and you don't have no back up, with some services. But on the other hand it's just not the same than a boxed copy because you're not really paying for anything just for and idea or concept, if i can make some sense, it just feels like you're getting ripped off, specially since you can never be sure that the service and/or service will be on for decades to come like a boxed copy can.Oscar-Wilde

[QUOTE="Oscar-Wilde"]I have ambivalent views on this issue on one hand i like DLC because i don't run with the problem of getting my games scratched, dirtied (my nephews get a hold of my games when visiting) or even stolen and sometimes you can re-download for free if your system get all messed up and you don't have no back up, with some services. But on the other hand it's just not the same than a boxed copy because you're not really paying for anything just for and idea or concept, if i can make some sense, it just feels like you're getting ripped off, specially since you can never be sure that the service and/or service will be on for decades to come like a boxed copy can.imprezawrx500

on pc over 50% of all sales now come from d2d and steam so that contradicts the heading of this topic. imprezawrx500

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]on pc over 50% of all sales now come from d2d and steam so that contradicts the heading of this topic. Makari

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/02/20/npd-pc-game-retail-sales-numbers-are-just-half-the-stor/

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/02/npd_says_pc_retail_sales_down_50-2.html

[QUOTE="DanBal76"]I'm old school, i will always prefer retail (box + game + manual), even with digital distribution being considerably less priced.imprezawrx500

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"][QUOTE="Oscar-Wilde"]I have ambivalent views on this issue on one hand i like DLC because i don't run with the problem of getting my games scratched, dirtied (my nephews get a hold of my games when visiting) or even stolen and sometimes you can re-download for free if your system get all messed up and you don't have no back up, with some services. But on the other hand it's just not the same than a boxed copy because you're not really paying for anything just for and idea or concept, if i can make some sense, it just feels like you're getting ripped off, specially since you can never be sure that the service and/or service will be on for decades to come like a boxed copy can.Oscar-Wilde

[QUOTE="Makari"][QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]on pc over 50% of all sales now come from d2d and steam so that contradicts the heading of this topic. Wartzay

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/02/20/npd-pc-game-retail-sales-numbers-are-just-half-the-stor/

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/02/npd_says_pc_retail_sales_down_50-2.html

Half of PCgaming revnues come from online, but that's far more than DD, it's also online fee, microtransactions etc.

DD sales are nowhere near half money-wise, they might be units-wise because of casual and indie games though. What really matters though is that through DD developers/publishers get far bigger cut than from retail and in the end that's what counts. Plus online and DD are growing fast, retail is stagnating overall (slowly growing or slowly dropping depending on location)

[QUOTE="Makari"][QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]on pc over 50% of all sales now come from d2d and steam so that contradicts the heading of this topic. Wartzay

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/02/20/npd-pc-game-retail-sales-numbers-are-just-half-the-stor/

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/02/npd_says_pc_retail_sales_down_50-2.html